What are a few difference in American culture and Japanese culture?

Question:

Answer:

A Japanese identity is very strongly tied with a group - his self-esteem and his focus is to strive for the overall welfare of the large group he belongs to, BUT this does not mean he likes or even approves of it. It is more an acceptance of how things are. If you look at all of their hero's whether past or present, they are overwhelmingly individualistic nonconformists.

On the other and, Americans like to think of themselves as rugged individualists, but at heart Americans spend an inordinate amount of time to keep up with the latest fads or trends. In other words, they worry and expend a great deal of time and money to appear like all the popular people - a strange way to live for a rugged individualists wouldn't you say?

In Japanese culture, it is a shameful thing to put ones parent in a retirement home. Only an elderly without children or from an estranged family gets placed (or as they view it abandoned) in an "old-folks" home. In America, no one thinks twice about abandoning their parents to the care of strangers in a retirement home.

In America, education is viewed as a legal requirement and no more. In Japan, education is view as the most important thing a parent can give to their child. A Japanese parent will make just about any kind of sacrifice to insure their child gets the best education. In America, most parents don't care. That's why a Japanese high school graduate is better educated than most American college students.

In Japanese culture, when someone borrows money is viewed as a serious obligation that must be paid back. Most Japanese do not like to be in debt and credit cards is still even today viewed as undesirable, so cash is still king in Japan. In American culture, no one thinks anything of borrowing money even when they know they cannot pay back the money.